In the prior art, the bell type apparatus has been used to charge raw materials, such as ore, coke, lime, etc, into a furnace. This type of apparatus comprised, in order, a conical small bell and a large bell on an axial line of the furnace. These conical bells are vertically movable to charge raw materials into the furnace. However, when raw materials are charged into the furnace using this arrangement, the charged material tends to accumulate along the inner wall of the furnace and make a depression in the center thereof, thus resulting in non-uniform distribution of raw materials.
In view of the foregoing, various means have been suggested heretofore to resolve such problem and obtain more uniform distribution of the raw materials in the furnace. One example is a truck or rod having a distributing plate at its front end disposed to be movable toward the furnace to cause the plate to guide the material dropping from the large bell to be distributed toward the axis of the furnace.
This apparatus has been widely used in large scale furnaces to reduce the aforementioned problem. However, in existing apparatus, the truck or rod is supported by means of roller bearings which are generally laid on rails and brackets, which are exposed to the atmosphere in the furnace. Thus, various problems arise as to use of such truck or rod. Furthermore, conventional roller bearing apparatus has a disadvantage in that the rod should have a certain length to obtain a predetermined stroke for the distributing plate. Moreover, the structure is complex; additional weight is used; a deck of greater capacity is needed; and a crane is required for checking, repair and transport. Also, added expenses are incurred. Thus, there is room for improvement in the distributing schemes, such as in the construction, conservation of materials, control, etc.
The instant invention has been devised through many investigations of the foregoing problems and priorly used solutions.
An object of the invention is to simplify the structure of a raw material distributing device, and reduce its weight.
Another object is to prevent intrusion of dust particles into the space betwen the armer rod and the bearing, thereby preventing problems caused by such dust particles.
A further object is to increase the stability of conservation and control of maintenance of operation of the furnace.
A still further object is to reduce the cost of production and maintenance.
Briefly, this invention encompasses an apparatus for distributing raw materials which are charged into a furnace. An armer rod is disposed outside the furnace with a distributing plate connected thereto at one end inside the furnace. The armer rod arrangement is provided with a novel sealing mechanism to prevent dust particles from entering between the rod and bearings. Cooling mechanism is provided about the rod arrangement.
Many other prominent characteristics and the actual embodiment will be apparent from the detailed description of preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawing.